The advantages of car rental have long been proven, but in the case of car rental in Dubai, and indeed in the UAE, these advantages become even more obvious. There are several reasons for this.

First, ideal roads. Every year, in various ratings, the quality of the road surface, infrastructure, readability of signs and so on - if not in the first place, then in the leaders of the list. Secondly, inexpensive gasoline, especially compared to European countries. Thirdly, adequate driving due to the general sobriety of drivers - the country is still a non-drinker.

Well, the rest of the advantages of renting a car are one way or another common to any country. This is an opportunity not to depend on the rhythm of the excursion and its shopping additions, this is the enjoyment of the place you like as much as you need, this is the opportunity to see those places that are difficult to reach using transport, this is savings in case of travel by a company and many other advantages combined by one in a word, freedom.

However, the UAE is a rather peculiar country, and in terms of car rental in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or any other city in the state, there are some nuances that I would like to talk about below.

The most important thing you need to know before your trip is that in the UAE it is officially forbidden to rent a car without an IDP (international driver's license). Therefore, before the trip, you need to contact the traffic police of your city and draw up a document. It is issued quickly, during the day, but a fresh medical certificate is needed.

The presence of an IDL is checked directly by the rental company, and without it you simply will not be given a car, even if you booked it and paid in advance. The IDL should be bundled with your national driving license because it's actually just a translation of what your driving license says. In general, no international car rental company, including those whose offices are based at the airport, will give you a car without an IDL.
With regard to the credit card - a similar story. The deposit is blocked from it. Moreover, unnamed cards and some debit cards will not work - only an embossed card, with the name and surname of the one who will lie to the car for rent. You can check if you have a credit card using a special service, there are many of them on the Internet, for example , this one . It is enough to drive the first six digits of your card into the field. And yes, the amount of funds on the card must exceed the size of the deposit.

However, the situation is not hopeless. Small rental offices, there are quite a lot of them, especially near the Clock Tower (Clock Tower) can turn a blind eye to the lack of an IDL and a credit card. They will take dollars or dirhams as collateral and, most importantly, a passport. So if you need it in the future when traveling by car, this is not your option.

But, firstly, the cost of rent will be significantly more expensive. Secondly, liability increases in case of any accident. Thirdly, the return of the deposit is possible only after 1-2 weeks, after the statistics on fines are updated. You will most likely already fly home, and they will be sent to you after an indefinite time using money transfer systems with their commissions, and they will, of course, fall on you. Yes, and most importantly, if a police officer checks your documents, then he has the right to issue a fine of 5,000 dirhams for driving without an IDL.

What do you need to rent a car
As already mentioned, an International Driving Permit and a credit card are required. But other documents are also needed. By the way, your age must be over 21 years old, experience - from a year. So, the full list of documents for car rental in Dubai and the UAE:

international passport
national driving license
international driving license
printed voucher (when booking online)
international credit card

Car rental companies in Dubai in particular, and in the UAE in general, are quite a popular phenomenon, there are both international and local companies. Both of them have their own advantages. To compare all the pros and cons, it is more convenient to use search aggregators. Localrent.com is quite popular today - it compares the offers of many rental companies in different countries, including the UAE.

The first thing you need to decide is the place of receipt and the date. If you are going to start using a rental car right at the beginning of your vacation, it is better to pick up at the airport, besides, there is usually the best choice of cars, if not to talk about exotic offers (we will talk about this below). Another advantage of renting a car at Dubai airport, or at another airport in the UAE (for example, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah) is to save on transfers and deliver yourself to the hotel yourself.

It is worth paying attention to two points. If you set the time for the delivery of the car at least an hour more than the time of acceptance, you will have to pay for another day. Moreover, if you actually hand over an hour later, they can forgive, but it depends on the distributor. The second point is the place of delivery. If it differs from the place where you took the car, a multiplying factor will appear. Although when compiling a complex route with a departure from another airport and when traveling with a company, this may be justified.